Network security specialists report that web hosting services Register.com, Web.com and Network Solutions, were victims of a data breach a couple of months ago, although the incident would have been detected until October 16.

A joint statement mentions that “an unauthorized third party gained access to a small number of systems at all three sites during the last days of August 2019. As a result, the information in these accounts could have been compromised”.

As a security measure, Web.com will ask all of its users to perform a password reset; however, a company representative mentioned that password encryption is a standard practice on this platform, so the users’ access keys remained protected during the incident: “We don’t believe that the information was exposed as a specific result of this incident,” the spokesman added.

It was also specified that the payment card data of the users were not exposed during this incident, as this information is operated by a certified third party. The company claims that the data breach has already been notified to the competent authorities. However, the company mentions that users should not let their guard down and remain alert to any suspicious activity on their bank accounts, especially of those online.

Finally, network security specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) mention that the danger remains latent, as the threat actors in charge of this attack could use the compromised information to deploy spear phishing campaigns.

In addition, they advise users of any of these web hosting services not to wait for instructions from companies and reset their login credentials as soon as possible. Upon the possible launch of a sophisticated phishing campaign, users are also advised to ignore suspicious-looking emails as well as attachments or links to external sites they might receive.